Sec. 166. Access for parents, legal guardians, and, primary caregiver relatives
615 words·~3 min read·
/bill/113/hr/3163/ih/section-166·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
The Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security shall ensure that all detention facilities operated by or under agreement with the Department take steps to preserve family unity and ensure that the best outcome for families can be considered in decisions and actions relating to the custody of children whose parent, legal guardian, or primary caregiver relative is detained by reason of the parent’s, legal guardian’s, or primary caregiver relative’s immigration status. The Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Justice, the Department of State, and independent family law experts, shall mandate live, specialized training of all personnel at detention facilities operated by the Department of Homeland Security or under agreement with the Department of Homeland Security in all relevant legal authorities, policies and procedures related to ensuring that parents, legal guardians, and primary caregiver relatives of children have regular, ongoing and in-person access to children, State family courts, consular officers and staff of State social service agencies responsible for administering child welfare programs.
Such personnel shall be required to undertake periodic and continuing training on best practices and changes in relevant law, policies, and procedures pertaining to the preservation of family unity. The Secretary of Homeland Security shall be responsible for— ensuring that detained parents, legal guardians, and primary caregiver relatives of children under 18 years of age are granted free and confidential phone calls with their children on a daily basis; ensuring that detained parents, legal guardians, and primary caregiver relatives of children under 18 years of age are permitted regular contact visits with their children; ensuring that detained parents, legal guardians, and primary caregiver relatives of children under 18 years of age are able to participate fully, and to the extent possible in-person, in all family court proceedings and any other proceeding impacting upon custody of their children; ensuring that detained parents, legal guardians, and primary caregiver relatives of children under 18 years of age are able to fully participate in and comply with all family court orders impacting upon custody of their child; ensuring that detained parents, legal guardians, and primary caregiver relatives of children under 18 years of age have regular, on-site access to reunification programming including parenting classes; ensuring that detained parents, legal guardians, and primary caregiver relatives of children under 18 years of age are provided with contact information for child protective services entities and family courts in all fifty States, the District of Columbia, all United States territories, and are granted free, confidential, and unlimited telephone access to child protective services entities and family courts to report child abuse, abandonment or neglect; ensuring that detained parents, legal guardians, and primary caregiver relatives of children under 18 years of age are granted regular, confidential and in-person access to consular officials; free, unlimited, confidential phone calls to consular officials; and access to United States passport applications for the purpose of obtaining travel documents for their children; ensuring that detained parents, legal guardians, and primary caregiver relatives of children under 18 years of age who wish to take their children with them to their country of origin are granted adequate time prior to being removed to obtain a passport and other relevant travel documents necessary for children to accompany them on their return to their country of origin or join them in their country of origin; and facilitating detained parents’, legal guardians’, and primary caregiver relatives’ ability to reunify with their children under 18 years of age at the time of removal to their country of origin, including providing information about the detained parent, legal guardian, or primary caregiver relative’s travel arrangements to State social service agencies or other caregivers.